Dr Paul Allen

Mazar sharif (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We live in a period of theological confusion that the book,  Allah: A Christian Response  by Miroslav Volf , does little to alleviate. Formerly a professor at Fuller Seminary, and currently Professor of Theology at Yale, Volf asks: “Can it be said of Muslims and Christians…that they too worship the same God ?”  He answers, “Yes, it can” (11), and it must! This thesis has major problems in three areas: theology, missiology and eschatology. Theology Volf admits that the God of Christianity and the God of Islam are not “completely identical” (91). To me, the differences are overwhelming. In 2007, in  A Common Word , 138 Muslim leaders affirmed that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. However, they were careful to quote Muhammad’s words:  “there is no god but God…He hath no associate,” thereby eliminating the Tr

I don't think you can tell it from reading on the internet, but among many younger leaders with Reformed and evangelical convictions there may be a slow convergence coming on the subject of the mission of the church and the relationship of Christ and culture. On the surface, the Reformed and evangelical world seems divided between "Cultural Transformationists" and the " Two Kingdoms " views. Transformationists fall into fairly different camps, including the neo- Calvinists who follow Abraham Kuyper , the Christian Right , and the theonomists. Though different in significant ways, they all believe Christians should be about redeeming and changing the culture along Christian lines. On the other hand, the Two Kingdoms view believes essentially the opposite---that neither the church nor individual Christians should be in the business of changing the world or society. Again, there are very different camps within this stance. The Reformed and Lutheran propone

Image via Wikipedia Miroslav Volf ,  Allah : A Christian Response  ( HarperOne , 2011), 336 pp., $25.99. “Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God ? Does the answer to that question have significant implications for how Christians and Muslims engage each other in the world today?” It was in answer to those two questions that Miroslav Volf wrote  Allah: A Christian Response . It was not written to answer whether or not Muslims are saved; that is, his goal is to discuss a political theology , not soteriology. My review will focus on two areas: (1) stimulating practical points and (2) points of theological and biblical concern. Stimulating Points Volf writes as one who has seen the bitter hostilities between Muslims and Christians and wishes to see those hostilities cease. Accordingly, he makes several points that provide excellent stimulation for Christians who are considering how to think about and engage with adherents of Islam . First , Volf helpfully summarizes key similarit